Because some people have more money than sense. There is no way that I would have upgraded from an i5 2500k @ 4.3Ghz powered PC to my current one if I hadn't been forced to because of the motherboard/GPU double failure. The increase in performance really isn't worth forking out nearly a thousand quid for. Some people will quite happily splash out 500 quid for a new graphics card, but I rarely want to go above 200. The price/performance ratio drops off dramatically at the top end of the pile, but evidently enough people grab hold of the "latest and greatest" to make the industry work. I guess I should be grateful for that!

 

Agreed, my problem was that when I built my current system a few years ago, I opted for the 560Ti because the budget did not support the 580.  Now I can upgrade to the card I wanted back then (only the 970 is better).

Mark,

 

I have a 550Ti which I got a few years ago because that's all the budget would allow, a brand-new card like the 970 is probably out of the question from a cost standpoint for me, but I've seen some good deals on some of the now obsolete cards (notably the GTX580). Would it still be worth the upgrade going from a 550ti to the 580? I'm actually pretty pleased with the performance of FSX, like many, it's actually OOMs that are limiting what I can do as much as the hardware these days. But if it got me and extra frame or two at places like LAX in the 777, that'd still be nice. Thanks.

 

-John

I have the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 which is supposed to be PCI-E 3 ready. So I should be able to run the GTX 970 in theory so I might give it a go. I have the GTX-580 but the newer one is benched at half as fast again. 

I have been using the GTX970 for a few weeks now and doing a few experiments along the way.  Please note that I use Steve's DX10 Fixer and my scenery is ORBX Global, Vector and Europe LC, plus any addon airports.  Aircraft are PMDG, Aerosoft Airbus, Majestic and a very small number of GA aircraft like the Milviz 310. 

 

So first conclusion is that the visuals are stunning.  You can crank the AA on the card to 8xSGAA with Steve's fixer up to 32 if you like (although I have mine at 8x) and there is almost no impact on framerates.  Everything is crisp and clear, no shimmering at all, just beautiful !

 

But, its no panacea, I have been playing around with my Orbx Vector settings to find the best balance of framerates and visuals and have found that I need to turn of Secondary and Tertiary roads in order to get descent framerates in large cities and major airports. 

 

Stuttering and pauses are greatly reduced with this card but not completely eliminated.

Mark,

 

I have a 550Ti which I got a few years ago because that's all the budget would allow, a brand-new card like the 970 is probably out of the question from a cost standpoint for me, but I've seen some good deals on some of the now obsolete cards (notably the GTX580). Would it still be worth the upgrade going from a 550ti to the 580? I'm actually pretty pleased with the performance of FSX, like many, it's actually OOMs that are limiting what I can do as much as the hardware these days. But if it got me and extra frame or two at places like LAX in the 777, that'd still be nice. Thanks.

 

-John

I'm not Mark, but I thought this may be helpful. The upgrade to a 580 will get you the following:

• Somewhat better fps in heavy weather
• Larger cloud radius/density settings without fps issues
• Ability to use higher AA/AF settings without fps issues
• Ability to drive higher resolutions without fps issues

Beyond this it really won't help FPS much, if at all, but it you want better/more eye candy it will help out noticeably.

 

Be sure to consider that a 580 takes a lot more power to drive, and that your PSU can handle it.  Personally I'd pay no more than $100US for a used one, but that's me.

for $100 it might be worth it.  

Thanks to both of you for the reply, yeah $100 is what I'm seeing. Figured it's a low-risk, moderate upside investment. I have a Seasonic 620w PSU, might have to upgrade that too I suppose. Thanks again gents for the insight. 

According to this http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/015-p3-1582.pdf, your PSU is probably enough for a gtx 580. Hopefully yours is one of the 80+ or better rated models from Seasonic, all of which are great PSUs.

I7 4790k and i5 3570k difference between is not engough to justify the it, and i5 2500K will be fine. Eying Xplane as the replacement for fsx. In Urban environments like big cities your fps gonna be lower ways. Once into open spaces Xplane smokes FSX go from 17 to 20 fps to 60 to 75 feels like real life when driving rural area. Got intel cpu from 2011 or later no need to upgrade. Payware airports and cities like Paris and Chivago are frame rate killers regradless of hardware. Funner to fly in rural Iowa or France anyways.

Rod,

 

Yeah after some research I think I'm good to go. Spending to get a really good PSU as I did a year ago definitely doesn't have the kind of exhilaration that comes with upgrading the video card, but it's definitely worth it. It's odd, I have zero brand loyalty towards anything, anything except my PSU. Seasonic or bust. Thanks again for the input guys.

Enjoy that gtx 580; in its day it was the FSX dream gcard.  Some considered it a better FSX gcard than the 680.

 

I too really appreciate the value of excellent quality PSUs, for which Seasonic is one of the premiere vendors.  In 2006 I bought a 550W 80+ Seasonic (after blowing two consecutive budget PSUs) that's still in use in my secondary system. 

Hi folks

 

I have an (antiquated ?) i7 920 running at just over 4GHz  together with a GTX 480.  I can't afford to change the processor/motherboard, but I am looking at upgrading the GTX 480.

 

I run DX10 and I wish to try P3D.

 

There are many (nearly new) 770's out there at the moment at reasonable prices, although I could afford a GTX 970..

 

Do you think the latter would be a good move for me, or would the present processor throttle any advantages?

 

Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

Pete